Recap: Defensive Breakdowns Continue as Rangers Fall 6-3 to Blue Jackets

After the New York Rangers collectively attended a learn-to-play hockey training camp led by Jack Hughes and the New Jersey Devils last night, they traveled to Ohio to face the Columbus Blue Jackets. While the Rangers are dead last in the Eastern Conference, the Blue Jackets are fighting for a playoff spot and, at the start of this game, are only one point behind the teams currently holding the wild card spots and have a game in hand, so this game is important to them.

To add to injury to insult, both Noah Laba and Urho Vaakanainen were hurt in the loss to the Devils, leading many to call the lineup even more toothless as Jonny Brodzinski and Connor Mackey took their places.

Before we get to the rest of this, how about something fun? The MSG broadcast highlighted a moment in history. Fifty-four years ago on this day, March 19th, Eddie Giacomin was the first goalie to record two assists in a single game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

First Period

In terms of uneven play, this opening period wasn't quite as bad as their start against the Devils last night, but man, it was close. Forty-five seconds in, Vladislav Gavrikov went to the box for holding Cole Sillinger, and then it was all Blue Jackets from there. Igor Shesterkin had to fend off not two, not three, not even five, but seven shots from the Blue Jackets, yet Shesterkin, who was locked in early turned them all away and somehow kept this game scoreless.

Shorthanded or not, this game wasn't improving for the Rangers, and they couldn't help themselves when it came to taking penalties and making things harder for themselves. This time, Tye Kartye went to the box after high-sticking Mason Marchment, but upon further review, Kartye might not have been as guilty as the officials thought. Still, true to the Rangers' style, they would find a way when least expected.

In the Rangers' end, Will Borgen tried to clear the zone, but it was knocked down by Blue Jackets defender Zach Werenski. Vincent Trocheck, however, was right on top of him and knocked the puck out of the air past Werenski for a shorthanded breakaway. Trocheck had all the time in the world and patiently came in on Jet Greaves; he smoothly slid the puck through Greaves' five-hole to unexpectedly open the scoring for the Rangers.

The Blue Jackets didn't let the Rangers hold on to the lead for long. Later in the period, they dumped the puck into the Rangers' zone, where it wrapped around the net. Boone Jenner managed to tap the puck out from the boards to Isac Lundeström, who fired a perfect shot that hit the bar and bounced down into the net.

Columbus struck again with a minute left in the period to take the lead, and it was a bizarre one. After being bullied by Jaroslav Chmelar, Kent Johnson managed to get the puck back to Werenski, who quickly passed it to Conor Garland. Garland tried to shoot on goal, but Matthew Robertson got his stick in the way, deflecting the puck up toward the side of the net. Oblivious to the vulcanized rubber coming his way, Braden Schneider turned, and the puck deflected off his forehead and into the net past Shesterkin. There was discussion of reviewing the play, but the goal was quickly confirmed, and the game moved on with the Blue Jackets now in the lead.

Second Period

Stop me if you've heard this before: Shesterkin was locked in to start the period. Without him, the Blue Jackets would have easily built a two or three goal lead. He made an exceptionally big save on Werenski, who received a pass in a broken odd-man rush and tried to beat Shesterkin on the open side, but the Rangers' netminder extended and slid over to make the stop. This was especially important because of what happened soon after.

Alexis Lafrenière, positioning himself in a passing lane, intercepted Charlie Coyle's attempted pass. He realized he didn't quite have the angle past Coyle to get the puck to Zibanejad in the neutral zone, so he made a diving pass through the Columbus skaters, sending the puck right to Zibanejad, who had a partial breakaway. Zibanejad, with his head on a swivel, realized he didn't have a good angle to get to the net alone, so he handled the puck and fired a blistering wrist shot on net. Greaves tried to grab it with his glove, but the velocity of the shot was too much for the netminder, and the Rangers scored their second goal to tie the game.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. Just minutes later, Columbus regained the lead on a play you can bet Shesterkin would want back. Jenner entered the Rangers' zone and took a low-quality shot on net. Shesterkin stopped the initial shot, but Jenner followed up on a rebound that Shesterkin let get away from him. Robertson couldn't reach the puck or Jenner in time, and the Blue Jackets' forward knocked his own rebound past a helpless Shesterkin.

Late in the period, the referees stopped play, causing players to gather at the penalty box while everyone, including the broadcast team, looked confused. They announced a too many men on the ice penalty, and just before we cut to commercial, the camera showed Mike Sullivan looking confused and angry as he grabbed an iPad.

Later, replaying the penalty, it showed Kartye coming off the ice a little early, and the puck leaving the Blue Jackets' zone deflected off him, prompting the officials to call it. Unfortunately, the Blue Jackets capitalized quickly on this opportunity. After winning the face-off in the Rangers' zone, they cycled the puck around. Kirill Marchenko passed to Werenski at the blue line. Noticing Adam Fantilli in the slot, Werenski sent the puck low to the net, allowing Fantilli to deflect it just enough to beat Shesterkin and give the Blue Jackets a two-goal lead.

Despite a stronger effort from the Rangers this period, they had some bad luck and were outscored and would now be going into the third period down two goals. They'd still have their opportunities to make a comeback; however, as the period ended, Coyle bumped into Cuylle behind the Rangers' net, leading to a scrum and a penalty against the Blue Jackets. The Rangers would start the third period on a power play.

Third Period

During the power play, the Rangers pushed hard to get back into this game. As they entered the zone, Trocheck and Zibanejad had a give-and-go. Zibanejad then passed to Fox at the blue line, who wound up and fired a shot on goal. Lafrenière, standing in front of Greaves, deflected the puck past the netminder, giving the Rangers an early power-play goal to cut the deficit to one.

Two minutes later, Sillinger would take a penalty after hooking Borgen. Despite the delayed penalty, Sillinger still grabbed the puck, and took a shot on goal. Every Ranger on the ice rightfully took issue with this. Lafrenière raced in trying to get to Sillinger, showing that this team might be bad, but they're showing heart now where they hadn't before.

As the power play began, the Rangers struggled to set up in the offensive zone. Sean Monahan broke out of the zone, and Adam Fox lost an edge, giving Monahan a top-quality chance that Shesterkin stopped. Thirty seconds later, Jenner got his own chance, but Fox stopped him with a slash that Dave Maloney personally took issue with. The Blue Jackets then kept the puck away from the Rangers for nearly a minute to effectively kill the Rangers' power play in hopes of getting their own full two-minute power play. However, it didn't matter, as Fantilli also went to the box twenty seconds later, leading to a minute and a half of four-on-four hockey.

After all the penalty time expired, the Blue Jackets would once again extend their lead. This time it was Damon Severson who was dangling at the Rangers' blue line. He stickhandled into the offensive zone and deferred to Sillinger on the side of the net. Sillinger put the puck on net, and Severson, crashing the net, got to the rebound to give the Blue Jackets the two-goal lead once again.

Desperate to get back into the game, Sullivan pulled Shesterkin early. Just under three minutes left, the Rangers tried to get the puck in deep, but it backfired and Fantilli ended up with the puck skating toward the empty net. He sent a long shot into the open net to seal the game for the Blue Jackets.

Another loss by the score of 6-3, this one felt better, but not by much. It could have easily been 10-3 if not for the heroics of Shesterkin. It's hard to feel good about your goaltender's performance when they give up five goals, but most of the thirty-one saves he made were down low and high danger chances. The Rangers will return to New York to host the Winnipeg Jets in a Sunday matinee game.